Craney Island - Portsmouth, VA

Craney Island at the mouth of the Elizabeth River, the scene of the American victory that spared Norfolk from being captured by the British during the War of 1812, was originally known as Crayne or Craney Point.

The name was derived from the fact that the early settlers on the Elizabeth River were impressed with the great number of what they mistakenly believed to be cranes that inhabited it. Hence the name Crayne or Craney Point, although the birds the settlers thought were cranes were actually white and blue herons, still fairly common birds in the Tidewater area.